Cousins Focused on Balancing Cautious & Aggressive Play

[Viktor]

While circumstances of interceptions can be quite different, picks are usually the gridiron equivalent of an inning-ending double play, thwarting momentum.


According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Cousins ranks third among all quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts with an aggressive-throw percentage of 20.6.


And Cousins is correct in that the Vikings have connected on big plays in the passing game.


The Vikings currently rank third in the NFL with an average of 8.06 yards per pass attempt. Minnesota is also tied for the seventh-most passing plays of 20-plus yards with 22.


But as Cousins said Wednesday in his weekly videoconference with the Twin Cities media: "If there was a theme, it would just be, 'Hey, maybe less aggressive, less trying to make the big play.' "


As for the turnovers, Cousins has at least one interception in five of six games to start the season, and he already has three multi-interception games in 2020. The quarterback had just one such game in 2019, when he threw just six picks in 15 games.


The quarterback was asked Wednesday how he would assess his 10 interceptions thrown in 2020.


Some turnovers, Cousins said, were solely on him. Others — such as the last-gasp pass to Adam Thielen at the end of the Week 3 loss to the Titans, or his arm being hit on his third interception against the Falcons — are just unfortunate plays.


"Every interception's a little different," Cousins said. "So, you go back and look at each one and say, 'Why was that the case on this one?' And certainly the first one against Atlanta [on the first play of the game], I would say, I got too locked in on Justin [Jefferson] and didn't need to force it.


"I wouldn't say many of the others were pre-determining, and a lot of them you shrug your shoulders, too," Cousins added. "Hail Mary's are unfortunate, tipped passes are unfortunate. You have to look at each one as its own entity and some of them, there's not a lot you can control, and some of them you can control entirely. You just study each one very critically and take what you can from each of them as individual plays."